Events on August 12 in history

Echo 1A (August 12, 1960)

Echo 1A, NASA's first successful communications satellite, is launched.

Project Echo was the first passive communications satellite experiment. Each of the two American spacecraft, launched in 1960 and 1964, were metalized balloon satellites acting as passive reflectors of microwave signals. Communication signals were transmitted from one location on Earth and bounced off the surface of the satellite to another Earth location.The first transmissions using Echo were sent from Goldstone, California to Holmdel, New Jersey on 12 August 1960. The last Echo satellite deorbited and burned up in the atmosphere on 7 June 1969.

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Events on 1960

17 Mar

Bay of Pigs Invasion
U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the National Security Council directive on the anti-Cuban covert action program that will ultimately lead to the Bay of Pigs Invasion.
21 Apr

Rio de Janeiro
Brasília, Brazil's capital, is officially inaugurated. At 09:30, the Three Powers of the Republic are simultaneously transferred from the old capital, Rio de Janeiro.
9 May

Combined oral contraceptive pill
The Food and Drug Administration announces it will approve birth control as an additional indication for Searle's Enovid, making Enovid the world's first approved oral contraceptive pill.
4 Jul

Flag of the United States
Due to the post-Independence Day admission of Hawaii as the 50th U.S. state on August 21, 1959, the 50-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia, almost ten and a half months later (see Flag Act).
29 Oct

Muhammad Ali
In Louisville, Kentucky, Cassius Clay (who later takes the name Muhammad Ali) wins his first professional fight.

Events on August 12 in history

Echo 1A (August 12, 1960)

References

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Events on 1960

Bay of Pigs Invasion

Rio de Janeiro

Combined oral contraceptive pill

Flag of the United States

Muhammad Ali